Madison Square Eats

If there’s one thing you do tonight, I’d suggest checking out Madison Square Eats if you haven’t yet! I realize this might be sort of a disservice to tell you all about this so late in the game, but since there IS one more day to catch it, I figure why not.

Madison Square Eats

Madison Square Eats

Roberta's Pizza

Roberta's Pizza

I wanted a burger from Graffiti but they had run out so I walked down to the Roberta’s Pizza booth and ordered a seasonal personal size pizza with squash, mushroom, thyme, and basil. Delicious!

Seasonal pizza!

My friend went to Asiadog for a kimchi and chicken organic hot dogs. I don’t even think I can’t even remember the last time I had a hot dog, but these were so good. Everything is decently priced too. It’s such a quintessential NY experience so if you haven’t gone yet, check it out! It’s open until 9pm and again, tonight’s your LAST chance to catch it so bring your appetite! Located on Broadway, near 24th street .

Asiadog hot dogs

Asiadog kimchi hot dog

Participating restaurants include: Almond, Asiadog, Bar Suzette, The Cannibal, Fatty Snack, Graffiti | Mehtaphor, Hong Kong Street Cart, Hot Blondies Bakery, ilili, Junoon, Macaron Parlour, The Milk Truck, Momofuku Milk Bar, Nunu Chocolates, Perfect Picnic, Red Hook Lobster Pound, Roberta’s Pizza, Robicelli’s, Sigmund’s, Spices & Tease, Stuffed Artisan Cannolis, and Wafels & Dinges.

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Now that’s how you eat a NY pizza! You’re just giving me more reasons to love you, Jon…

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Luzzo's Pizzeria (photo credit: Luzzo's)

Contrary to what you might think, there’s not a lot of pizza places I really love out here. I think my Midwestern roots keep me from loving thin crust as much as I should (although not gonna lie, you will probably never see me refuse a slice). I tried Luzzo’s in the East Village a few months ago with friends, and I actually really enjoyed the thicker crust of the brick over pizza that you find here.

The Bufala: tomato sauce, bufala mozzarella, basil

Funghi: tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, basil

The size of the pies are not huge, but the slices are thick so don’t let it fool you…two pies easily fed four people with some slices to spare. If you can handle spice, be sure not to forget to use the red pepper oil to dip your slices in.

Red pepper oil -- this thing is brilliant

Restaurant Info:
Luzzo’s
211 1st Ave.
(between 12th and 13th)
New York, NY 10003
212-473-7447

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Penne alla vodka, $33

Spinach ravioli, $33

Restaurant Info:
Patsy’s Pizzeria
67 University Place,
btw 10th and 11th St.
New York, NY 10003
(212) 533-3500
Greenwich Village

Candle lit back room at Emporio

I actually found out about the quaint Roman-style trattoria Emporio in Nolita through my friend Archana’s blog at LettuceVeg.com. She took much better pictures than I did with my camera too, but I’m glad I went on her recommendation because everything we had was delicious. Plus, I was obsessed with the candle-lit back room where we had our little girls night. The middle of the space has communal tables. Though, if you want more privacy, the booths along the sides have curtains you can pull on either side so you block out the distractions.

Ricotta Ravioli, $16

Squid Ink Fettuccine, $17

We thought we ordered a more special pizza, but alas...it was pretty plain.

My favorite was the ricotta ravioli with tomato and baby zucchini. It was so fresh and delicious. The Squid Ink Fettuccine was a little too seafood-ish for me!

Afterwards, unfortunately, we had an underwhelming dessert experience at Balaboosta. We originally had planned to go to Village Tart, one of my favorite dessert spots downtown but it was closed for some reason (and PS, I just found out yesterday that it’s closed down for good…stab in the heart). So we decided to head over to Balaboosta which wasn’t too far away. It was my first time there and it’s a really cute Mediterranean restaurant. The special of the day was a some pistachio dessert with chocolate and whip cream and all sorts of goodness, but when we sat down, we were told they just ran out.

We instead ordered chocolate mousse and another bread pudding dessert. Both looked a lot better than it tasted:

Chocolate mousse dessert

Bread pudding

But honestly, the rest of the menu sounded good, so I’m not writing it off just yet. I’ll definitely go back for another meal — just not for the dessert this time. Best part was when we ordered our mint tea…which wasn’t really mint tea. It was instead, hot water poured on top of mint leaves. Which basically tasted like hot mint water.

Our $5 mint water

Eh. Can’t win em all.

Restaurant Info:
Emporio
231 Mott St. (near Prince)
New York, NY 10012
(212) 966-1234
Nolita

Balaboosta
214 W. Mulberry St.
near Spring St.
New York, NY 10012
(212) 966-7366
Nolita

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The Quad at U of I Photo Credit: UIUC.edu

This post is going to be really fat of me. But remember I mentioned that there were so many dishes I missed from my college days at UIUC? Well, I wasn’t kidding when I said I was going to compile them in a list. I think it’s also where my interest in food heightened since there were so many options (I have my fat pictures to prove it…you’ll probably never see them though). I’m not sure if all of these are even standing still, but regardless:

15. Coffee filet steak from Radio Maria. One of those hidden gems in Champaign that created unusual combinations with common food. Hence, the coffee steak.

14. Eggplant parm sandwiches from The Great Impasta.

13. Making customized pizzas at Za’s — I love the thin crust, pesto sauce, and sun dried tomatoes, and topping them with juicy pineapples. I also miss filling in a fake name on my order. They could never say my name right, anyway.

12. I can’t remember what was there before, but I wasn’t super excited about the Union changing the corner cafe to Serendipity. Until I had their green tea ice cream.

11. Biaggi’s. It’s definitely a bit farther away, but I loved this Italian restaurant out in Savoy — the calamari, pastas, chicken dishes and their assortment of bread to start.

10. Aroma Cafe. A good place to study if you need a change of scene from the main campus.

9. Rainbow Garden’s General Tso chicken. I believe it was halaal, so some of the rare times we found a place my halaal-eating friends could agree on.

8. Gyros from Niro’s Gyros. I actually didn’t realize how much I missed it until I visited my sister in school a few years ago.  PS, everyone in freakin NYC still makes fun of me when I say “gyros.” They all say it like JY-rOs here, and we say GEE-Ros….I know technically we’re both wrong, but I still think saying it our way is closer to the proper way (which is pronouncing it “yee-ros”). Leave me alone and let me eat my food.

7. Tuesday nights at Espresso Royale Cafe that I think was on Gregory, where they had open mic night and this happy guy on the ukele would always perform. He was such a happy man.

6. Sushi from Miko. I know I’ve said I’ve never been a huge fish fan, but this place was the first place I ever had sushi. It’s more sentimental in that way, the first time in a long time I actually stepped out of my usual picks and tried something new. They also have hibachi-style cooking!

5. Shrimp fajita quesadillas from Dos Reales. Heaps of melted cheese on a shrimp/rice burrito. So bad for you, but so delish.

4. Papa Del’s Pizza. Man, I miss thick crust pizzas.

3. Cookie Monsters from Cheddar’s. Oh man. A giant, fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie topped with vanilla ice cream and chopped nuts. Heaven every time.

2. Late Night’s at Busey-Evans. Chocolate covered strawberries and turtle white mochas at only the expense of a vulnerable freshman with extra swipes? Yes, please.

1. Pokey stix from Gumby’s. Still haven’t found bread sticks remotely close in deliciousness. It’s basically thick pizza dough, which they smother with a “secret” blend of garlic butter and Italian seasoning, layer with mozzarella, bake again, and brush with a little more sauce. Also accounted for 90% of my college obesity.

I probably miss paying $4 for a meal the most. Four dollars in NYC can get you a piece of lettuce at best. Live it up, U of I youngins.

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